Posted tagged ‘cornish pasty’

Everyone has a book in them, and Billy Deakin, the back-to-back World Pasty Champion, has a bit of a corker in his locker – How To Make An Award-Winning Cornish Pasty.<
Billy is a St Agnes-born Cornishman and former Masterchef contestant who scooped the amateur titles at the Eden Project in 2012 and again this year.
Now he’s shown that it wasn’t a fluke, he’s penning a tome showing how you too can make a top-class Oggy.(more…)

To mark the opening of entries to the World Pasty Championships, a tale about my own first foray into the world of Cornish pasty-making.
You may have seen the picture below on the Foodies Facebook page as I was rather proud of them as a first effort.
Their genesis involved no blood, a lot of sweat and toil, almost some tears – and a lot of swearing.
You see, I decided to make the Cornish pasties on the best day possible to do experimental cooking…Christmas Eve!

Bakers from around the globe can sign up from noon tomorrow for the second annual World Pasty Championships at the Eden Project, which takes place on Saturday March 2.
In the first World Pasty Championships at Eden last March, more than 100 competitors took part in a day-long celebration of Cornwall’s most famous dish. The offerings ranged from traditional pasties made in the heart of Cornwall, to novel recipes from other parts of Britain and across the world.
Many of last year’s bakers are due back to show off their wares and defend their titles, including Billy Deakin, winner of the Cornish Pasty Amateur category and the Bridgeport Pasty Company, whose third prize Professional Open Savoury pasty came all the way from Chicago, Illinois, USA.(more…)

Think your pasties are up there with the world’s best? Well you can now put your beef skirt where your mouth is, as registration has opened for the first World Pasty Championships at the Eden Project in Cornwall.

Few things are taken as seriously as pasties in Cornwall, so much so that the Cornish Pasty Association last year landed European Union Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status for the traditional recipe (albeit with a caveat to suit Ginsters). It means only pasties made in Cornwall to this recipe can be called “Cornish”.

The competition is open to professional and amateur pasty makers in Cornwall, the rest of the UK and across the world, with categories for traditional Cornish pasties and open sections for other varieties made east of the Tamar.

Entry costs £10 and includes free entry for the competitor and a plus one to Eden on Saturday, March 3.

The latest addition to the collection of amusing books on your coffee table that you’ll never read has been launched in the form of The Little Book of the Pasty.

It has been launched by the The Cornish Pasty Association (CPA) to cash in….sorry celebrate the gaining of protected geographical indications (PGI) status for the humble pasty. This means to be called Cornish it has to be made in the duchy to a specific recipe, which I have written about before.

The book is, the CPA say, “full of tasty facts and the history of Cornwall’s most iconic food”. And they are right. This is a book seemingly solely aimed at tourists who enjoy the odd proper pasty on their annual visit to Cornwall and whose knowledge of what they are chomping is probably very limited.

Alan Adler, Chairman of the CPA, said: “After receiving PGI status, the CPA wanted to leave a legacy for the Cornish pasty. The Little Book of the Pasty is an absorbing account of the history of our region’s most famous food product and it truly demonstrates the Cornish passion for pasties. The book is full of quirky pasty facts and we hope it will be enjoyed by many Cornish pasty fans across the country.”

For the native eater (and me), most of the legends and facts may be old hat, but there are enough amusing and interesting old pictures in it to make it worth spending time thumbing through it. Not sure I’d buy it at £5.99 mind you, though that could just be because I am a massive cheapskate.

Only one other thing to note. The journalist in me noticed that while it was nicely written, it needed to be better proof-read as there were some noticeable punctuation errors and the like. I realise the irony of me pointing out such mistakes when this blog is littered with them of course.

Over all, I can see it gracing a few lounges in the South East and London as an object d’amuse. The press release mentioned the possibility of a second edition and I would advise the CPA, if a second edition is released, to have it proofed again. But enough of my bah, humbuggery.

The book is available to buy and order in independent bookstores and tourist attractions in Cornwall, on Amazon and in selected Waterstones. RRP is £5.99.

A Cornish bakery is providing an early taste of Christmas with the launch of two new products and the return of a festive favourite.

Crantock Bakery's range of products for Christmas 2010 include a turkey and cranberry pasty, Christmas sausage roll, and Christmas pudding and custard parcel.

Crantock Bakery has partnered their popular Turkey and Cranberry Pasty with a brand new Christmas Sausage Roll, while plum pudding lovers will be thrilled by the new Christmas Pudding and Custard Parcel.

Crantock Bakery’s new product development manager Becky Hornabrook said: “Last Christmas high street shoppers loved our Turkey and Cranberry Pasty as it had the delicious taste of a Christmas dinner but without the stress of cooking it.

“This year we’ve been working hard to add to our range and are really pleased that while people are battling to finish all their Christmas shopping they’ll be able to pick up a slice of Christmas to keep them going and warm them up while they’re trudging round the shops in the cold.”

The Christmas Sausage Roll is made from minced pork and turkey seasoned with sage and cranberry, all wrapped up in light puff pastry.

The brand new Christmas Pudding and Custard Parcel blends deliciously rich Christmas pudding with creamy custard. The treats are encased in a crisp pastry parcel topped with a sprinkling of demerara sugar and ground cinnamon.

And the return of Crantock’s Turkey and Cranberry Pasty, dubbed “the world’s fastest Christmas dinner”, sees the baker pack in the key elements that make up the biggest meal of the year.

The products are available from Monday 8th November from a wide variety of bakeries across the South West including The Cornish Oggy Oggy Pasty Company, Cornish Bakehouse, The Newquay Pasty Company, The Mounts Bay Pasty Company, and other independent bakeries.

Terrifying story in the Western Morning News today. Turns out the price of a humble pasty is to rise because of the Russian heatwave and fires that destroyed a quarter of its wheat harvest.

Wheat of course is used to make flour, which makes pastry. So the price of wheat has rocketed. And it could well send the price of a large steak soaring as producers pass the cost increase on to consumers.

A bit of silly season bollix? Well no, actually. And I should know, I wrote the story. It started out as something I thought of in the shower to tide over a day in silly season. Bugger me if it didn’t turn out to be true!

A solution to the problem? Well, not sure. Just pay a bit extra for a locally made pasty if you have to.